Former Georgia football player stays competitive on NASCAR pit crew
HAMPTON, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - One former Georgia Bulldog is finding a way to stay competitive after leaving football.
We caught up with Jackman Nate McBride during the Ambetter Health 400 race weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
As the cars sped by at 180 miles per hour, McBride and the No. 34 car’s pit crew watched and waited.
“I’ve always considered the pit crew like the offensive lineman. They don’t get all the glory, but you know when they mess up,” he said.
The football analogy is appropriate because he comes from that world. McBride used to play linebacker for the Georgia Bulldogs.
“Football is a lifetime sport until it’s not, so that’s all we did growing up. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do,” McBride said.
He had been on a team almost his entire life since he started playing football as a 6-year-old.
When graduation approached, McBride thought he was done competing, until a recruiter encouraged him to try out for a different kind of team.
“If there’s anybody that’s not going to the league, tell them to come try out for NASCAR, and I was like, ah well, I never watched it growing up, but I figured I’d give it a try,” he said.
Crews up and down pit road use athletes who played other sports.
“This is such a good avenue into continuing that competitiveness,” McBride said.
As the caution to end Stage 1 came out in the Ambetter Health 400, the No. 34 crew got ready, knowing how much of a difference they were about to make.
“We could go from being first in a race, and you mess up a pit stop, and you’re in 20th,” McBride said.
You have to work as a team to change four tires and fuel mistake-free in about ten seconds. McBride is grateful he found one.
“It’s been the best decision I ever made, the Lord blessed me with this opportunity, and I’m truly loving it,” he said.
McBride says four out of five guys on the No. 34 pit crew played another sport.
Three played college football and one played in Minor League Baseball.
Copyright 2024 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
